Overview
Introduction
George Gershwin's 1917 novelty rag "Rialto Ripples" was his first published instrumental, and was a commercial success. It has all the hallmarks of Gershwin's piano style, with stride left hand patterns and ragtime syncopation typical of that era.
The Gershwin/Donaldson collaboration Rialto Ripples is generally recognized as Gershwin's first instrumental work. This brief, peppy piano solo combines elements of the ragtime idiom with the melodic and rhythmic hooks characteristic of the "novelty" music of the teens and twenties. Ripples follows a typical rag model, alternating the main melody with contrasting strains; the pervasive syncopated rhythms further point to the work's ragtime roots. While this work from the teenaged Gershwin shows little of the ingenuity and inventiveness of his more mature music, the sheer brashness and energetic swagger prefigure the composer's confidence in such later works as Rhapsody in Blue.
